Carbon Dioxide Exchange of C<SUB>3</SUB>-plant Leaves at Low Carbon Dioxide Levels

Abstract

Carbon assimilation at low carbon dioxide levels was measured on three Oryza specics (O. sativa L. cv. Toyonishiki, O. officinalis Wall, and O. meyriana Baill.), Brassica napus L. cv. Michinokunatane and Triticum aestivum L. cv. Konosu No.25. Measurements were made at two different oxygen concentrations; 140% and 21% (atmospheric pressure). An improvement in measurement device was made for ensuring an accuracy of the meter readings. That is, a recorder with a modulator was used to enlarge the differences in the carbon dioxide concentration; two- and five-fold for carbon dioxide levels above and below carbon dioxidc compensation point (gamma), respectively. It seems that HEATH and ORCHARD (1968) and HOLMGREN and JARVIS (1967) Changed the carbon dioxide concentration at large intervals, resulting in 3 to 5 measurements below gamma. Such a few measurements would obscure the statistics of the carbon dioxide exchangc rate at low carbon dioxide levels. The changes of carbon dioxide concentration in this experiment, however, were made at intervals of about 2 or 4 ppm from 0 ppm to gamma, resulting in 7 to 14 mean values below it. As the characteristics of carbon dioxide absorption at low carbon dioxide levels, GABRIELSEN (1948) proposed the 'threshold hyPothesis' in which gamma was regarded as a threshold value below which no assimilaton occurred, while HEATH and 0RCHARD (1968) postulated the existence of a 'third process', in addition to ordinary (dark) respiration and assimilation, which could be expected to have a different balance between respiration and assimilation. They denied the adoptation of the threshold hypothesis. From the prescnt experiment in which the carbon dioxide exchange rates were traced by Changing the Carbon dioxide concentrations at very small intervals, hwever, it appeared that the rate of carbon dioxide uptake at low carbon dioxide levels and atmospheric oxygen pressure tended to decrease toward 1/2 gamma carbon dioxide level, and the carbon dioxide uptake seems to cease and only the carbon dioxide release secms to occur below it. In case of measurements at 14% oxygen concentration the situation was similar to those at 2l% oxygen concentration, but a considerable decrease of the value of gamma. Thus, the process of carbon dioxide uptake at low carbon dioxide levels seems to imply the threshold hypothesis and 1/2 gamma seems to be an approximation of the threshold value. The assimilation rate is estimated as the ratio of carbon dioxide concentration differences between ambient air and assimilation center to the sum of diffusion resistances.As an estimate of carbon dioxide levels in the assimilation center in this formula, GAASTRA (1959) proposed zero, while BIERHUIZEN and SLAYTER (1964) adopted the Practise of using gamma to estimate it. From the results mentioned above, we could propose to use 1/2 gamma as its primary approximation because the photosynthetic center would be exposed to this carbon dioxide level but not absorb it.